Help! I'm lost in a world of CLUTTER!

One of the three daily vital behaviors of being a Beachbody coach is reading personal development books.  I'm a book worm, so if the book is interesting to me, this isn't a problem.  We're supposed to read 10 minutes a day, but I read closer to an hour a day.  

Right now I am reading "You Can You Will" by Joel Osteen.  Whether you agree with his religious stance or not, he is a great motivational speaker.  I don't always agree with his religious views, but a lot of what he says does make sense.  This book is really changing my perspective on my own attitude about myself and my surroundings.  (I'm not officially endorsing this book, but rather just sharing my own personal opinion of it.)

Now I must admit, I am a totally messy person.  It bothers me sometimes, but most of the time, I just overlook it.  I am usually dressed nice and have my hair and makeup done, but my house and my car are just a cluttered mess.  Quite frankly, we just have way too much stuff for our small house, and I find it very difficult to organize.  I don't even really try.  I have noticed, though, that this affects other areas of my life.  I really find it hard to concentrate when I sit down at the computer to work or do homework when the house is a mess.  

In one part of the book, Osteen says that to be abundantly blessed, you need to take care of what you have.  This means your material possessions, your surroundings, your environment, and YOURSELF.  I have the taking care of myself part down pat.  I eat well, exercise daily, and keep my appearance nice.  My surroundings-not so much.  This is something I need to really work on.  It is an area of weakness for me.  So, this weekend, I am going to tackle first my bathroom since it's always a mess, and then I'm moving on to the kitchen.  One room at a time, I will get myself organized.  If you drive by this weekend and see me pitching stuff out the windows, don't be alarmed.  I'm just cleaning.  :)

Ultimate Reset-DAY 21!!!!

I DID IT! I completed the Beachbody Ultimate Reset!!!!  YAY!!!!  I am SO excited that I stuck it through to the end and actually completed it. It wasn't without some bumps in the road, some hiccups along the way, but it is DONE.  I didn't quit.  

I lost a total of 10 pounds and TWELVE INCHES!!!  I was STUNNED to see that I lost that many inches!  I'm sleeping better, my skin is SO clear, and my energy is finally starting to pick up.  I am ready for my next journey!  

What's next, you ask?  Well that would be 21 Day Fix Extreme!!  I'm kicking it off tomorrow with Plyo Extreme.  Beachbody CEO, Carl Daikeler, posted this message on his Facebook page on Friday: 

"This Monday the Beachbody Challenge Du Jour can do a lot of good for a lot of people!

Complete “Plyo Fix Extreme” from 21 Day Fix Extreme as your workout on the Beachbody On Demand platform Monday 3/23/15 between 12:01 AM PT to 11:59PM PT – and I’m donating $100 to IjmInternational Justice Mission to help end slavery, up to $100,000!

Last Monday 500 people did Plyo Fix Extreme. So the question is; can we double it this Monday?

I’ll be doing my workout at 5:30AMPT if you care to join me – but that’s beside the point. If you’re a member of Team Beachbody club and complete the Plyo Fix Extreme on Monday – your workout counts and $100 goes to truly make a difference. I hope you share this, and I hope we can count on your workout!"

If you would like to join me and the rest of my team, you can do so by contacting me here or email me and I will help you get started!!!

Watch for updates on my 21 Day Fix Extreme journey as well as my thoughts on the program.  I'm even planning on sharing a few of my favorite Fix Extreme-approved meals!!  

Ultimate Reset Day 20

I missed a few days of posting.  Sometimes, life is just hectic, and mine has been the last few days!! Being a coach, mom, and full-time student leaves my plate full most of the time.  I can promise you I have kept on my journey even if I haven't been posting because my health is on the top of my list of priorities.  I can't offer my best to others if I'm not giving it to myself!

The last few days of Reset have been mentally tough.  I am just ready to be done.  I miss meat. I miss cheese.  I missed working out REALLY bad, so I did get back into that yesterday.  I didn't push myself too hard.  It felt SO good to move and work my body, though!!  

At this point, I haven't weighed myself.  I can tell you that I feel pretty good.  My skin is SO soft and more clear than it's ever been.  I really do feel like I'm glowing for the first time ever.  I have been sleeping great. I fall asleep right away at night, and I stay asleep all night.  I've never been a good sleeper, so this is something that I am greatly pleased about.  I have also noticed that my teeth seem to be a lot more white, and I'm sure that's from not drinking any pop or coffee, and I've also heard that certain foods like strawberries help whiten your teeth, and I've been eating a lot of those!  

I did discover a food that I have become completely OBSESSED with.  Actually, a couple of foods.  I found this stuff at our grocery store called broccoli cole slaw.  It's shredded broccoli, carrots, and cabbage, and it is SO GOOD added to salads with baby greens and spinach.  Another thing I really love on my salads is sprouted pumpkin seeds.  These are a little more expensive, but the bag lasts forever.  They are also super good as a snack if you toast them in the oven at 450 for around 5 minutes with a little bit of olive oil and Himalayan salt.  

The broccoli slaw I found at our small grocery store in town, and the pumpkin seeds I got at the health food store.  I keep the pumpkin seeds in the fridge to help them last longer.  I've had this bag for 3 weeks, eat them almost every day, and you can see there is still quite a bit left in there.  

Tomorrow is my LAST DAY.  I feel like I have learned a lot about myself doing this cleanse.  I already knew I was an emotional eater and one to eat when I was bored, but I have found alternative methods to dealing with my feelings other than eating.  I also learned that I am terrible at remembering to take pills.  They aren't my thing.  I've missed the supplements a few times on this journey.  Whoops.

I am looking forward to completing 21 Day Fix Extreme over the next 3 weeks, and I know it will be easier to stick to the meal plan after completing Ultimate Reset as most of my cravings are gone, and the meal plan for Extreme isn't nearly as restrictive.  I am going to miss the detailed meal plan, though.  I think that was my favorite part of Ultimate Reset!  It took all the guess work out of every meal of the day. 

Ultimate Reset-Day 16

Today shall forever be known as the day I had a major panic attack in the bathroom.  

So last night, I had beets and asparagus for supper.  I LOVE beets, so I ate my fair share.  I warned my children that if their pee was orange or pink today, it was from the beets and there was no need to panic.  I should've taken my own advice...

Breakfast today was Chocolate Vegan Shakeology with coconut oil and a side of fresh raspberries and strawberries.  YUM!!  

Lunch was cabbage salad.  It was DISGUSTING.  I barely ate.  

I spent all day with a HORRIBLE headache and stiff neck.  I was pretty sure I was coming down with something.  I even came home and took a nap after work because I felt SO rotten.

Supper was a baked sweet potato and steamed veggies. It was ok.  I didn't eat much because I still wasn't feeling that great.  

Ok, the rest of this is TMI, so if you have a problem with poop, stop reading here.  If not, read on.  So after supper, I had a major stomach ache. Kind of a crampy in my guts, yucky feeling. I went to the bathroom, and had a pretty decent movement.  When I wiped, I just about had a heart attack.  The toilet paper was all RED.  For a good 20 seconds (which feels like an eternity when you think you're dying), I was convinced that I had a GI bleed or something.  Then I remembered....the BEETS.  I had a pretty good laugh at myself after I got done panicking.  Strangely enough, after I went to the bathroom, my neck quit hurting and my headache got a lot better.  I must have been holding on to a bunch of toxins.  

I am down to just SIX DAYS, and I am SO looking forward to being done!!  

Ultimate Reset-Day 15!!!

Do you see that?  It's the END!  It's in sight!!!  And I can't WAIT to be done!

I decided to do one extra day of week 2 since I was sick on Friday night and all day Saturday and missed pretty much a whole day of supplements.  So since there is no meal plan for day 15 in week 2, I decided to do Shakeology for breakfast (since I refuse to skip a day anymore and we had church today), the super yummy cucumber tomato quinoa salad for lunch, and then steamed broccoli and asparagus for supper.  There have been a lot of recipes that I will never eat again (like the pinto beans and rice), but some of them will DEFINITELY be incorporated into my regular meal planning.  That cucumber tomato quinoa salad is my favorite by far in this plan.  The southwest veggie tacos from week one were super yummy, too.  One good thing about this plan is there are a lot of recipes in it that I would've probably never tried if I wouldn't have had to, and some of them were super good.  

Tomorrow I will start week three.  It's going to be possibly the most challenging week yet as there is NO grains at all.  It is just fruits and veggies.  The good part is there is no beans.  Haha.  I am getting really excited to finish and see my results.  

Ultimate Reset-Day 13 & 14

Day 13 started out great.  I ate my fruit for breakfast, had a microgreen salad for lunch, remembered to take all my supplements on time, got my water in, and felt really good.  Then mid-day, I started to not feel so good.  As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse.  By evening, I had a full-blown case of the stomach flu.  Great.  

I started drinking Shakeology in July of 2014 and have not missed a single day since until I started doing Ultimate Reset.  I really truly believe that Shakeology keeps my immune system operating at peak performance because my whole entire family had influenza this winter, and I didn't get it.  My daughters both had strep throat which I am highly susceptible to, and I didn't get that either!  The worst thing I had all winter was a small case of the sniffles for a couple of days, and I'm normally sick several times in the winter.  There is a reason why they call it "The healthiest meal of the day."  I truly believe that all of the nutrients in it have helped improve my health so much.  

The point of the Ultimate Reset is to teach you to eat and eat the proper foods for your body to operate properly.  Therefore, Shakeology is allowed, but is not worked into the daily meal plan.  It is okay to sub it for breakfast or snack a few times a week, but it is encouraged to EAT your meals.  So while I have had it a few times for a snack or breakfast, I haven't been doing it every day like I normally do.  Never again will I miss a day.  I don't care what the reasoning is.  I have spent the last 18 hours running to the bathroom.  I am not enjoying this.  

I am not taking the detox supplement today as I believe it is just aggravating my poor system. I am also trying to still make smart decisions for food, but I am avoiding greens and other things high in fiber because I just don't need them today.   Tomorrow, I will resume on plan on day 15 assuming I am feeling better.  

Ultimate Reset-Days 11 & 12

I didn't post for the last two days.  In the program guide for the Ultimate Reset, is says that there will come a point in the cleanse where you start to have an emotional cleansing, too.  Apparently days 11 & 12 were my days for that.  I pretty much cried continuously from the evening of the 11th day through most of the day yesterday.  I even cried at work which I never do!   By the end of the evening last night, I felt much better.  I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me, and I slept great last night.  I woke up feeling at peace and well rested.

I am really looking forward to the end of this journey.  I am ready to move on to the next phase.  I know I've been saying this a lot, especially if you follow me on Facebook, but I miss working out.  I am eager to get back to my morning routine!